Supporters of the DNI relaxed and almost lost debaltseve

30.06.2016

In the area of Debaltsevo is tense again — the fighting around the city went on for 10 hours. In total, the side lost in killed and wounded at least 60 people, including artillery and armored vehicles. According to some observers, the militia were able to defend their position only because of the Minsk agreement, which Kiev was forced to give the order to retreat.

APU caught the militia by surprise. Photo: youtube / news front

According to estimates of the Ukrainian side during the battle, which began early on the morning of 29 June and ended on the evening of the same day, 23 militiamen were killed and 34 injured. According to law enforcers, they were able to defeat a platoon of supporters of the breakaway republics and destroy their artillery and ammunition depot. Their losses they estimated at one dead and 11 wounded. Dead, apparently, was an Opera singer from “Right sector” Vasily Spivak. In DND believe that no one militiaman was killed, but Kiev has lost 2 IFV, 1 APC and many soldiers, the exact number of which is unknown.

Vary and history about the cause and course of the battle. Donetsk claim that the Ukrainian army and neo-Nazi militants used tactics of NATO. The alleged purpose of the throw was to pull out a large militia force, and then to surround and destroy them. But the defenders of the breakaway republics repulsed the sudden attack of the enemy, but did not pursue, knowing the essence of the tricks, tell the Ministry of defence DND. Therefore, the Ukrainian army first penetrated at 4-4. 5 km in the position of the militia, took 3 heights near Debaltsevo and the village of Logvinovo, and then left them.

According to participants in the battle of Kiev, the first the offensive went the militia. At 5 in the morning began to work the artillery of the DPR, followed by the Ukrainian position was attacked by armored cars and infantry. But security forces fought them off and went to the counter, a mile deep in the enemy territory. But their goal was not to win new territory and destroy the enemy artillery that have worked on them. Therefore, successfully completing the operation, they retreated to their part of the Donetsk region. As stated by 30 June, the representative of presidential administration of Ukraine on ATO Andrei Lysenko, the whole fight took about 10 hours. However, officials deny capture the enemy’s height and saying that the fighting was purely defensive in nature.

However, Ukrainian volunteers say that the counter-attack of their army was so successful that by the middle of the day they were able to storm Debaltsevo.

“We would have 400-500 military and seasoned people in Svetlodarsk arc, and our boys to debaltseve reach. It is not bad with some elevation can be seen with binoculars,” — said the volunteer Yury Mysyagin. However, this was prevented by the Minsk agreement, because of the fear that the military leadership gave the order to retreat, participants offensive.

The former head of the defense Ministry DND Igor Strelkov also believes that Ukrainians occupied the height allowed them to fire as debaltseve and surrounding settlements. His opinion is also shared by the ex-leader of the militia of Gorlovka Igor Bezler, who believed that by morning the city would be in pot.

However, don’t agree with them military analyst Boris ROZHIN. In an interview with “MK” he admitted a tactical error of the militia, which, in his opinion, was not fatal:

— Debaltsevsky direction has always been considered one of the most calm, and, apparently, so the militia was relaxed they neglected the intelligence. Ukrainian security forces took advantage of this to organize a surprise attack on their position. Militias were forced to leave a few heights, but later they were approached by a reinforcement, with which the front was stabilized. While the offensive of Kiev was unlikely to result in the capture of debaltseve, as the battle was abandoned too little power. Perhaps security officials wanted to conduct a reconnaissance in force or in any way affect the negotiations, which on June 29 was held in Minsk (as a result, the parties agreed to the divorce of weapons in the village of Golden, situated near Popasnaya. — “MK”). Here it is significant that the Ukrainian authorities decided not to inflate out of this fight sensation, that means they are not interested in resumption of war. Otherwise 30 June was underway would the whole front line near debaltseve, including Logvinova and Popasnaya. And it is unlikely the security forces would be able to achieve the same rapid success as Wednesday, since here they would have to go to a frontal attack when the front line would have been pulled all the main forces of the DNI and LC.